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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Baby Bat Burritos

Extreme heat events in the land down under has managed to wipe out colonies of these species of bats - the Flying Fox, the largest bats in the world, and the Australian Bat Clinic (among others), have been swamped with arrivals of baby bats that have been rescued. Public misconceptions of these vital mammals to our ecosystem (thanks to Vampire movies and all), doesn't help the situation either. ....

When a bat mother dies, often their young are still attached and will not survive without the right care. Bat carers play a vital role in not only retrieving suffering bats, but rehabilitating them until they can be released back into the wild.
When baby bats first enter rehabilitation it can be traumatising for them as they have just been separated from their mothers to which they have formed strong bonds.

The teats represent their mother’s nipple, and this makes them feel more comfortable, as does the security of the blankets which they are often snugly wrapped in.

Fast Fact(s):

Bats are more closely related to humans and other primates than they are to rodents. Several studies indicate that the old world fruit bats and flying foxes may actually descend from early primates such as lemurs.

Bats are very clean animals, and groom themselves almost constantly (when not eating or sleeping) to keep their fur soft and clean, like tiny cats.

All mammals can contract rabies; however, even the less than 0.05% of bats that do normally bite only in self-defense and pose little threat to people who do not handle them.